Modern application development processes require secure user authentication and access management. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other authentication services provide various tools to meet these requirements, and one of them is the "Refresh Token." In this article, I am going to explain what is the refresh token is and how to implements.
What Is Refresh Token?
In simpler terms, refresh tokens make sure you don't have to frequently enter your credentials to access your favorite websites or apps, enhancing the user experience and, at the same time, contributing to security by minimizing the risk of constantly sharing your login details.
Let's assume we have a user pool that created basically for email accounts. Also let's assume we have created the default domain and resource server under the Cognito user pool settings.
Implementation Of Refresh Token On AWS Cognito
Before all this, please ensure that you are able to getting access tokens on Cognito. If not, you can check my authorization code flow article.
Authorization Code Flow On AWS Cognito | by Onurcan Yılmaz | Oct, 2023 | Medium
We're going to create an app client that supports Authorization code grant. Let's have a look the following screenshoot.
That's all. Now, we are able to obtain the access token when request is submitted.
Testing
Let's create a request on Postman for refresh token usage.
Let's have a look the refresh token result.
{
"id_token": "eyJraWQiOiJj......",
"access_token": "eyJraWQiOiI...",
"expires_in": 3600,
"token_type": "Bearer"
}
Conclusion
Properly configuring and managing Refresh Tokens can not only improve the user experience but also enhance the security of your application. AWS Cognito and Refresh Token usage can make your applications more user-friendly and secure. To learn more and further refine this method, you can refer to the AWS Cognito documentation and additional resources. Remember, user experience and security should always be a top priority, and Refresh Tokens can help you achieve these goals.
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